Happy Zappadan!

Today begins the holy feast of Zappadan, which lasts from December 4 to 21. It's a celebration of the life and work of Frank Zappa.

To kick things off, here is a clip you've probably all watched before, but is worth watching again. Zappa's defense of freedom of speech on CNN's Crossfire in 1986 is a classic. It takes on a new resonance after our recent war of the words in blogtopia.



Twenty years later and Bob Novak is the same evil bloodsucker. Some things never change. In his opening monologue Tom Braden asks: "Do we want the government to ban the sale of records with lyrics the government doesn't like?" Replace "government" with "high and mighty blog censors" and you've just described the last 30 days at Area 51.